Naturally Different
by JEZZHYE
Summary: Jesse and his friends go on an action-filled adventure to stop the Admin from rampaging their world. Throughout the story, however, Jesse discovers his genetically ancient powers which he possessed but never knew of. He's struggling to take them under control and becomes a threat to himself and his friends, pressuring the group even more. Why's life never easy?
1. Chapter 1

Hello there! I have finally brought myself to rewrite "Facing The Monster I Am" after a year. A lot happened in my life, a lot of it changed and so I lost my passion in writing for some time, but now I'm halfway back to it. Solving some remaining issues so don't expect regular updates please. But I got good news for those who liked the previous and crappy version of this story, a lot of it changed and its purpose as well. Some things will be removed and some added, depending if they're not too much for this kind of story.

Note: English is not my mother language, so please ignore any grammatical errors or possible wrong sentence structure. I tried my best to get it done as good as possible. Enjoy.

**Naturally Different: Chapter One**

**Over The Edge**

"I need to find him, I need to find Vos", said Jack as he walked away from the hole in the icy wall which was their way of escape. He couldn't just leave his best friend here, not when he'd just found him after all those years he's been missing him.

Jesse and Petra turned to Jack, not sure what to say. Jesse understood him, but at the same time they had to escape before the admin finds out that they were trying to escape. Time was running out. "Hate to say that but I guess we're splitting up then", said Jesse with a guilty expression. Petra just nodded, staying silent but felt bad for Jack as well.

Jack didn't answer as his eyes quickly shone with hostility, however it disappeared as quickly as it came. He couldn't blame them but he had still hoped for them to cope. And Petra wasn't sure if the hostility she saw was truly there for a second while Jesse looked away in guilt.

Out of nowhere, a familiar voice spoke up. Jack snapped to the direction of the voice was coming from as if he had been struck by lightning. "Well… this is a little... _disappointing._"

The three of them flinched, not knowing how to react. "Vos? How did you get up here?", Jack wondered aloud while Jesse and Petra thought it would've been more appropriate to ask what's with the sudden low tone.

"Oh I tried. I really, really tried." Vos ignored Jack, his back still facing the three. Confusion hit Jack even harder, not sure what Vos was talking about while Jesse narrowed his eyes. Something felt off and he didn't like it.

Jack tilted his head in confusion. "What do you want to say? What have you been trying?"

Not answering him again, he directed his focus on Jesse. "Oh Jesse, Jesse, Jesse. I just don't understand you, letting your friends go? Letting one half go back on their own when who knows what could happen to them and let the other one behind as well because you're simply running out of time?"

Jack threw a glance to Jesse before looking back to Vos. He stayed silent, giving Jesse the opportunity and space to answer. "I don't think you have to understand me. I don't let anyone go alone unless I have a reason to, which I have."

"Care to tell that reason of yours then?" Jack asked in a moody tone, making it difficult for Jesse to decide if that question was asked with hostility or friendly curiosity. He guessed the first.

"I trust Radar and Lukas to get home on their own, they're strong enough for that. And Vos is clearly dead, there is no way he survived without drowning down there. I'm sorry but that's how it is. And you know the admin isn't stupid either, he can teleport us to any location he wants, so who knows where he will teleport us to. I don't want to risk too many lives, you know."

"He hasn't found us yet though," Jack argued but Petra started to get the point, her expression slowly changing as realization hit her. Well, that was some next gen shit.

"Jack, I told you there is no way Vos is still alive, even your disagreement won't change it. And don't you think this Vos is acting a bit off? Do you think the real Vos would talk to you this rude, not to mention, ignore you as well?"

Jack didn't reply and went silent, thinking about what Jesse just told him. It all made sense, but part of him just didn't want to believe that Vos was dead once and for all. Can life be this unfair? Isn't he allowed to keep his friends with him? Is he supposed to stay a lone wolf?

Jesse felt little regret for the harshness he used and looked away, shaming himself.

"Ah clever one, I see." Vos said with a half evil smile. He liked that Jesse a lot, seemed to be the smartest out of the trio. Maybe today was going to be his lucky day if Jesse chooses to cope, although he highly doubts that. "Guess there is no need to hide my identity anymore then." He slowly walked towards them, step by step, as he started flickering a bright white faster and faster until he started to float and change his entire appearance in a blink of an eye. He now had red hair, a red beard, armor covered in a redstone glowing skeleton-pattern, his skin was grey, his iris yellow and his sclera red.

"I just can't… why?" Jack asked in utter disbelief. "Did Vos… did Vos die in that cage as well? Were you disguised as him this entire time?"

The Admin glanced to Jack now, sighing. Jack had his hands holding his head and was kneeling on the ground, hunched over a bit. His smile was replaced by annoyance and frustration. "Yes, of course I was! Do you really believe that a stack of pork chop would have held an old man alive for decades?"

Jack shook his head, not wanting to believe it. It's not like he ever will anyway. He was so happy that Vos survived, and now it's being thrown at his face that the whole time, it was the Admin disguised as Vos. The truth that Vos had to share the same fate as Sammy hurt a lot. It was cruel, life was cruel.

Meanwhile Jesse flinched at the mention of pork chop, his face saddening and his eyes looking at a corner. The Admin noticed it whose face split into a sinister grin. _Oh_, how could he forget?

"Oh Jesse… you poor little boy, learn to hide your emotions in front of your enemies." The Admin said mockingly, smirking at Jesse as he noticed his hostility building up. "I'm sad that my giant colossus pummeled your memorial, I would have loved to cook and eat the tasty meat of your beloved pig."

Something snapped inside Jesse as he charged at the Admin, his enchanted diamond sword, which started glowing red with particles, raised. His iris now had the color red while his sclera was completely black. "Don't you dare to talk about Reuben like that!"

The Admin barely dodged the quick slice, making Jesse halt abruptly at the edge of the platform. Jesse turned his head to glare at the Admin shortly before he sliced vertically again, missing. Not pausing, he sliced again, this time horizontally, injuring the Admin along his chest with a half deep cut.

The Admin stumbled back and held his new injury, anger glowing in his eyes. "Fine, be defiant, piece of shit." He took the gauntlet off of Jesse's hand by using teleportation, putting it on his own hand. "Have it your way."

Petra started running for Jesse, ignoring Jack's warning, as she felt the danger he was in. This wasn't going to end well.

The Admin didn't acknowledge her, charging at Jesse with the gauntlet and missing the hit. Jesse however landed his slice barely, having added a tiny cut injury on the Admin's throat. But before he could even realize it, the Admin hit him straight in the back, sending him crashing into the ground.

Jesse gurgled up blood up and didn't attempt to stand up again, blinded by the pain. He turned his head to the left, barely seeing Petra as she ran towards the Admin with a furious battle cry and her golden sword raised. He weakly raised an arm as he wanted to warn her, but only a low groan came out as his arm made contact with the ground again. Jesse growled and knitted his brows together in an aggressive face expression.

Unfortunate for Petra, the Admin dodged her attack and sent her flying back to Jack with a punch straight in her face. Jack quickly assisted her, helping her sit up and recover from the brutal hit. "Everything's so blurry…" she said with closed eyes, one hand holding her forehead.

Now with one problem less to worry about, the Admin turned back to Jesse, only to see him charging for a silent attack and dodging it in the last second, swiftly hitting a punch at his face as well, sending him over the edge of the platform.

Jack saw it in the corner of his eye, and realization hit him too late. He forgot Jesse. "_JESSE!_"

Jesse's eyes widened in shock as he was sent over the edge, forgetting the pain temporarily. He couldn't die yet, not here, not now. His friends needed him, who knew where the Admin would send them to. And his town needed him as well, he just couldn't leave so many innocent citizens with an undeserved fate behind.

_'Don't shit yourself yet, you won't die.'_

Scales suddenly began to grow out of his skin at the back of his hands, his arms and even reinforced scales on his back to protect himself from the incoming impact. _Something_ did it, because he was sure he didn't do that on his own.

However there wasn't a lot of time to wonder as his back suddenly slammed into the ground with immense force, a strangled gasp escaping his throat. He started choking for a few seconds before he was able to breathe again. Everything started to get cold for an unknown reason and it was difficult to keep a hold onto reality. His vision blurred and his hearing started muffling. _No_, he thought.

The last thing he saw before everything went black was the Admin's face mixed with surprise and furious victory.

_I lost._

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

Hello there, here I am again with a new chapter. I am sorry that it took some time but I doubt anyone has been waiting for the new chapter anyway, so yeah. However I do hope anyone who reads this story, or this chapter, enjoys it.

This chapter is also a reupload since I found a lot of mistakes, so I hope there are no more now. I've finished it around 3am so I was a bit too tired to check everything correctly as it seems. But as always, please ignore any possible grammar mistakes or wrong sentence structure.

FeathersOfFancy: Thank you! Your review made me really happy and motivated me for a little while to continue the chapter until my final exams stopped me from doing so. But I am glad to hear it is barely notable, in fact, I can't even describe the feeling I get properly. But I hope you like this chapter as well, thank yourself especially for this chapter being up in case you like it. (I hope you do.)

ThePlayaJam765: Thank you. I'm trying my best not to fuck up this story with anything so I hope you'll enjoy it as well.

**Naturally Different: Chapter Two**

**Monster**

Jesse slowly started to hear people talking as he woke up, still muffled, but he could make out that they were all together in a big room by the reverb that followed their voices. It wasn't as loud as usual so Jesse guessed there weren't a lot of people. He slowly proceeded to open his eyes, only to be greeted by a stony ceiling. _What the..?_

He then attempted to sit up, realizing he had been sleeping on an uncomfortable bed which was made out of stone bricks, just like the walls and the ceiling around him. He sat there for a minute before remembering what happened, the fight, the fall, and the strange voice that echoed in his head.

One thing was for sure though, that voice didn't lie. He was still alive, and he could still move every body part so his spine didn't shatter into a million pieces. It must have been those scales that protected his spine from splitting in half but mentioning them, they were gone now. Instead, he could feel bandage covering up his back. Someone took a little care of him. _Thanks, I guess?_

But where was he? He took in his surroundings, coming to the conclusion that he was put in a cell. If he was in a cell, where were his friends then? Were they stuck here as well?

Sunken in his thoughts, he didn't notice a large golem approaching his cell. Knocking on the cell door with a blank stare, Jesse startled back to reality and glared at the golem in confusion and irritation. The first thing he noticed was that this golem had a different appearance than all the other golems he had seen. Its iron skin was black and grey and it was covered in purple lines that matched up a pattern. Its sclera was black as well while its iris was glowing purple.

The golem opened the door surprisingly silkily, grabbed Jesse and threw him over its shoulder. "Hey! What the heck are you doing?" Jesse protested but received no answer from the golem. He huffed to himself.

It walked out of Jesse's cell and through the big room filled with the people Jesse had heard talking earlier. Jesse looked at the different people while the golem continued to carry him. One guy, looking suspiciously similar to Bob Ross, was painting on an empty canvas. He had no paint but pretended to have some. Jesse shot him a weird look before having fixed his eyes on a few other people inside a cell similar to his. They were busy with several activities, each one doing a different activity than the other. One of them was a sitting young boy in his twenties who made eye contact with Jesse. The boy's eyes shone strangely, like the boy's soul left his body years ago, leaving behind an empty, fleshy shell.

Suddenly, the boy's eyes widened, turning red incredibly fast. He stood up as fast as a scared cat, ramming the cell bars with his arms while roaring and growling at Jesse. Jesse was taken aback and almost fell down, not taking his eyes away from the boy. Every other person in the big room turned to the raging boy except for the golem who continued to walk as if nothing happened. They shot Jesse looks of confusion. Two certain people, however, recognized Jesse.

_'Interesting.'_ The voice from earlier spoke up. Jesse now realized that the voice in his head sounded like its owner was around 25 years old. _'Poor boy's spirit took over his mind and body.'_

_What do you mean?_ Jesse asked but he didn't get an answer. He then decided to turn his attention away from the raging boy and grew relieved as soon as they left the big room, not aware that he unintentionally ignored a person calling out for him. The boy's screams started to go over to screeches and Jesse almost felt like those were the screeches from Death himself. The echoing in the hall didn't make it any better.

* * *

They arrived at a closed stone brick door just a minute or two later as the golem shifted the lever, opening the door and revealing an office. The office was decorated with shelves of lots of books, few paintings and a giant map of a place that Jesse didn't recognize. It also had two office desks, a man sitting on a chair at one desk to his left. The man looked like he's been awaiting him, a firm and strict gaze putting slight pressure on Jesse, the kind of pressure Jesse didn't like.

The golem suddenly threw him off and stepped back into an idle position beside the open door when the man stood up. He still kept his firm gaze on Jesse, hands behind his back as he spoke up diplomatically. "Would you mind to close the door, _please_?"

Jesse blinked bluntly. "Excuse me?"

"The door," the man pointed beside the golem. "Close it."

_This guy got to be fucking kidding me_, Jesse thought as he stood there. He crossed his arms with an irritated glare and continued to stay where he was. "I'm not your maid, neither am I your slave so close it yourself, _please_." Jesse spat the last word just like the man did.

"Oh Jesse, you know," the man started, stepping to the front of the desk to meet Jesse face to face. He enjoyed the confused expression on Jesse's face for knowing his name without Jesse mentioning it. "I am the warden in this wonderful, giant facility, so call me Warden."

_Creativity at its finest, holy shit._

"I have the saying here, so basically you are my slave in some way. This is a prison if you haven't noticed yet, and if you're not obedient, you will pay for your actions until you learn from them. But fine, have it your way." He instructed the golem to switch the lever for him which dropped the mood of Jesse even more. The golem didn't even try to fight back, switching the lever and not protesting as if it had no purpose in life.

"You know... if you and your friends stay like this, you are going to have a difficult time here." the Warden continued, turning his back to Jesse as he glared at the huge map. "So pick your actions wisely."

"I just love how you act like you suddenly stand above all the other people together with the Admin. You are a nobody, just like the Admin. Nobody here is worth more or less, we're all equal."

"That is what you think, but you don't know the truth about him so be aware of what spills out of that mouth of yours. And of course, I act like I stand above all the other people because nobody can stop me from doing my job here." The Warden turned back around, looking at the golem. "Large Henry, do you mind bringing me that leverage of his, skinny guy, glasses?"

_Oh fuck,_ Jesse thought as he paled while the golem left the room. That wannabe-warden guy could still do whatever he wants with Radar, and there would be no one else except for himself to stop that guy. _I thought Radar escaped, so why's he here?_

Thinking of Radar, Jesse turned his head to the door as he heard Radar talk insecurely two minutes later. He could imagine the stress Radar had to go through now, mostly for such an organized person. _Poor guy._

The door opened, revealing Radar getting shoved into the office by Henry. The first person he saw was Jesse. Quickly scanning Jesse over and finding no injuries, he ran to him, taking Jesse's hand into both of his, relief flowing through him. "Jesse! I'm so glad to see you all in one piece, I was so worried when I heard that you disappeared!"

_Oh, so he ran all the way back, getting himself caught. _Jesse mentally facepalmed. But he decided not to comment on it and ruffled the boy's soft hair instead. "That I'm alright? Seriously, I am glad that _you're_ alright, buddy. But please, don't get yourself into trouble for me in the future."

"Got it, sorry." _No need to apologize, douchebag._

"Enough there you two, large Henry?" The Warden interrupted the two, ordering the golem to shift the lever, and as the golem did so, a nasty looking machine came into view. "It's time to show you the first consequence of defiance, Jesse."

Jesse paled even more as Radar hid behind him in fear. He could literally feel the poor boy trembling. _Oh cool, an innocent person has to pay for my shit._

"Let me introduce to you: the Iron Breathtaker!" the Warden exclaimed in evil joy, smirking at the two boys. Jesse and Radar could already guess what it was used for, judging on the dread feeling they've suddenly got.

"Now, now Jesse, pay very close attention." He spoke as Henry approached the two slowly, cornering them more and more the more it got closer.

Jesse protectively put an arm over Radar's front, backing off and growling as his eyes started to glow red slightly. The golem hesitated slightly in the pace of his approach but continued unfazed. It first tried to get Radar with no violence, but Jesse stayed defiant and ended up being shoved out of the way. Jesse hissed slightly as his ribs hit the edge of one of the desks, falling to the ground with a thud.

Meanwhile, the golem grabbed the panicking Radar, carrying him to the machine and dropped him between the iron bars that held the victim in place. Radar started to tremble more and more as he was looking to Jesse for guidance. _Jesse, please help me._

Jesse's eyes suddenly widened as he realized that he actually heard Radar's pleading thoughts and got to his feet at lightning speed. He wanted to run to him, help him get out of there and comfort him that everything's going to be alright while he would stroke the boy's hair in a comforting manner but he had to choose wisely.

"Just a little reminder Jesse, he pays for your defiance, not his own." The Warden said sinisterly, pulling the lever down. Sounds of pistons were heard and an iron block got shoved down Radar's head, cutting off his air supply. "But it would be unfair if I wouldn't give you a chance to make up for your defiance. Join us, the good guys, to help bring back order to these poor people and spare your friend's life or... live as one of them and have your friend getting killed? I'm sure the guilt for letting your friend suffocate would haunt you a while."

"Manipulative.." _..bitch._

"Hey, hey, let me remind you that I am giving you a chance to save your friend here, Jesse. Don't fuck this up even more."

Jesse growled under his breath and actually took the time to decide, he really wanted Radar to be alive but he really didn't want to work for the Warden either. Although he would hate himself for the rest of his life if he would pick for his own benefit over his friend's.

After a couple of seconds, Jesse had a plan ready. "Continue dreaming, Warden. I don't pick the option to serve under a manipulative bitch."

The Warden sagged mentally but hid it under a poker face. "What a pity. Well then, let's watch your little companion suffocate, shall we?"

"You wish." Jesse spat as he dashed towards the Warden and the lever. The golem reached for him in an attempt to stop him but Jesse swiftly dodged it. He shoved the Warden to the side and pulled the lever, making the iron block move away from Radar's head. He then proceeded to yank Radar out of the iron bars, wrapping his arms protectively around the boy as he backed away from the Warden and Henry.

The Warden got up with a heavy sigh, brushing off some dust as he stepped towards Jesse and Radar who were cornered. The expression of Jesse's face could be described as one of an angry, hissing cat. "Instead of being a good boy and listen for once, you do the exact opposite. Reminds me of myself back then when I first got here... ah, old memories." he proceeded, brushing his fingers along the TNT that stood on the desk as he remembered the old times.

"What does he mean, Jesse?" Radar questioned, wondering what the Warden meant. Jesse for his part stayed silent, not quite sure either.

"It means," the Warden started as he retracted his fingers from the TNT block. "That our manipulation here gets to people successfully. Even to people like Jesse." Not waiting for an answer, he went back to his desk and took a seat on his neat chair.

"Get them out of my office, large Henry. Put that skinny guy wherever you want, but I want Jesse to be sent to the Zombie Mines."

* * *

Arriving in the Mush Room again, or the big room Jesse remembered waking up in, Stella came into view from behind with a smirk on her face. "I got to say, I'm impressed that you survived that heavy fall. Although less impressed of you denying the offer which the Warden gave you."

The golem threw Radar on the ground who immediately spotted Jack and Nurm. Calling their names, he got their attention which led them both to look to Jesse who was now brought to the Zombie Mines on the other shoulder of the golem, Stella following behind as she ignored Radar. The three of them disappeared moments later.

Meanwhile, Radar ran towards them, having a lot to tell them. He was still trembling but now felt a lot safer with more of his friends around, although he felt guilty for caring a bit less for Jesse who was now in worse shoes.

"Where's Jesse going?" Jack asked, worried for his friend. He had already seen how the prisoners had to fight for a single mushroom stew and if there's something even crueler, and Jesse would be going there, then he just felt bad for the poor guy.

Radar hesitated before answering. "He got sent down to the Zombie Mines as a punishment for his behavior towards the Warden. I don't know what happened before I arrived, but Jesse saving my life wasn't very satisfying for the Warden."

Jack cursed under his breath, his pity growing. "Shit, so if we want to save him, we got to get in trouble just like Jesse did."

"But aren't we going to be sent down to the same level as Jesse..?"

"Radar, if people are going for each other's necks for mushrooms stews, who knows what Jesse has to do a level lower. We know he's strong but even he is mortal. Nobody is safe from starving." Jack replied, already thinking if they should try to get some food as well for Jesse when they get down to him. But that would probably take too much time, more time than the time they need to get into trouble.

"Yeah, but what do you suggest then?"

The question echoed in Jack's head as he glared around, searching for something that would help them get into trouble. He then spotted the boy from earlier who had been screaming and screeching at Jesse. An evil smirk spread over Jack's facial expression. "Perfect."

* * *

Jesse sliced the last zombie with a wooden sword that he found lying on the floor randomly. It made an awful, pained noise before it fell down to the ground, dead. Jesse licked his lips before he sat down, dislodging and ripping off the right arm. Several people shot him weird and disgusted looks as he took a huge bite, the bones crunching satisfyingly as he ate. He ignored the stares as he'd already gotten used to them, but he failed to ignore the annoying, high pitched female voice popping up in the background.

"Look at that, gross. I didn't know we had animals down here." Stella called out to him while Lluna, her llama, continued to try to get free from the leash.

Jesse shot her an unimpressed look before smirking slightly. "I'd even say we have two. Although I wouldn't say they understand each other greatly."

"Shut up! Lluna and I perfectly understand each other, right Lluna?" In answer, Lluna spat Stella in her face. Stella got mad and dragged her to her office, not noticing that Jesse was following them with interest.

Arriving in her office, Stella took a seat in her neat chair and made a surprised noise as she saw Jesse standing in her office, the rotting zombie arm still dangling in his right hand. "Don't you have other things to do? And eat this gross flesh somewhere else, just not here!"

"Oh Stella, believe me, this is tastier than it looks." He smirked at her, biting the arm with a crushing force teasingly. It was satisfying to see her face turn to disgust when she heard the bones getting crushed.

"Yeah, yeah, keep this for yourself! This is just… gross." That made Jesse laugh.

"You're easily manipulative by a prisoner even if you're entitled as an associate. Is it just me or is it the arm here?" He smirked further as he threw the arm into the air a few times and caught it with slight ease. She, however, gave no response and just started working on her desk.

He left the cell that was decorated like an office and equipped with office furniture and looked around. There were tons of cells everywhere, just like on the level above him, but this room was smaller and had a darker atmosphere. From time to time, sirens echoed through the room as zombies spawned and red fog filled the room. Dinner time for everyone down here, unfortunately for the people and fortunately for him. They seemed to be even more depressed down here, but also more aggressive and dangerous. Jesse was surprised that the boy from earlier wasn't down here.

But there was this one cell gate that certainly caught his attention. He stood in front of it and could see a hallway leading somewhere behind it, lava flowing beside the concrete floor. He backed up a little to look at it as a whole, and suddenly found a suspicious hole in the wall next to the cell gate. Taking a closer look, he spotted redstone vires leading from somewhere towards the cell gate and the imaginary light bulb above his head lit up.

He decided to ask Stella for a lever, knowing the probability was low but she was also manipulative. So, worth a try.

"What is it now, Jesse? Haven't I told you to leave me in peace?" Snapped Stella annoyingly as she saw Jesse reenter her office.

"Listen, I need a lever, pronto."

"Oh and why? Not that I care but… you know." Stella laughed when she heard his strict tone. "But this place reeks and it's not what I expected it to be. I'll give you the ingredients for a lever if you get me out of here along with your friends, I know you're trying to escape."

"Ah? Where does this begging tone come from? Aren't we... rivals?" Jesse teased but was mentally confused as he didn't find any hint of lying or tricks.

"I don't like repeating myself, you know! Get me out of here with your friends! I still have my inventory so we could help each other!"

Jesse hesitated, thinking about it. Almost nothing he thought of was speaking for her, for taking her with them. Instead, a lot of things he thought of were speaking against her, against taking her with them. He knew she could be a bitch and too fond of herself but even she didn't deserve this.

"Sure.. but no tricks whatsoever. Don't make me regret this either." He said, grabbing the items Stella was holding out to him after he agreed. Then he went to the crafting table, crafting a lever quickly and took it to the hole in the wall while Stella was following him curiously. Placing it, he proceeded to shift it, causing the iron bars to slowly open the gate.

Stella had a slightly bad feeling and wanted to protest when suddenly a scream echoes, causing everyone in the room to turn their attention to the entrance to this room. "JESSE!"

Jesse was confused at first, what were Jack and Radar doing on their way here? More, however, why did they scream his name in bloody murder?

But not even a second later, Jesse found out why. His eyes widened in horror as he found the boy from earlier dashing at him at high speed. The boy now had sharp claws instead of nails, sharp, predatory-like teeth and red eyes. It was not a relieving sight to see, and even less relieving when the boy pounced him.

Sharp claws met his shoulders and dug painfully deep into his flesh, making him hiss in pain before the boy went straight for his neck, biting with full force. Now Jesse screamed in pain, trying to shove him off with all his might. Stella, Radar, and Jack came out of nowhere and helped him get the boy off of him. All of them tucked at the boy while Jesse pushed against the boy harder and harder until his hands were free to move.

He didn't waste a second to grab the boy's head and snap it 90° with a painful crunch, letting the boy's dead body fall to the ground beside him. He breathed heavily while lying on the ground with his eyes closed and slight breathing issues as his friends gathered around him.

Jack didn't waste a second to check the injury and, to everyone's relief, announce that the boy luckily didn't injure any major veins. Jack proceeded to rip off a horizontally long piece of cloth of his orange prison jacket, wrapping it gently but tightly enough around Jesse's neck to stop the bleeding. "His windpipe is slightly suffering from minor damage, hence his trouble to breathe but it should be fine in a few days."

"But can he talk normally?" Stella asked as she looked at Jesse who was starting to calm down. Then she quickly shot a look to the dead body lying beside Jesse, the whole event replaying like an endless nightmare. The pounce attack, the screams, the sickening crunch, everything was just horrible.

"More or less," Jesse said as he opened his eyes. His voice cracked slightly, but it was acceptable. "But thanks guys for helping me, that guy was really strong." He looked at the dead body beside him. _Sadly he wasn't strong enough when he needed it to be for himself._

Jack ruffled his hair with a smile much to his surprise while Radar laughed sweetly. Nurm, who Jesse just noticed, also made a happy sound.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Well," Radar started, his tone turning serious again as he straightened his glasses. "We had to get to you somehow, so we freed the most troublesome prisoner. The Warden wasn't really happy with this as the guy freaked out and almost made a mess up there, so they sent us down here. That guy must have picked up your scent because he suddenly started running like a mad man. Jack knew why and started to scream your name, trying to warn you in time. But well.. as we see now, that didn't quite work out well.."

"Oh—"

"Oh, look who we have here." A familiar voice suddenly spoke out of nowhere, interrupting Jesse, and they started floating upwards from the Admin's powers. The Admin revealed himself proudly, although he wasn't the only one who came. Apparently, Petra came with him too as she stood beside him against her will. "It's Jesse, of course. Why am I not surprised?"

And suddenly, the Warden was there too, eating a slice of cake. A few seconds later that slice landed on the ground as the Warden quickly bowed to the Admin.

"You really are so damn useless, first you're telling me about this too late and now he opened the gate to Xara's cell which you didn't even tell me about either! You can't even hold Jesse captive down here properly. I am done with you for fucking real now, annoying me has an end here!" The Admin said furiously, taking the Warden's powers and inventory in just one clap.

"As if anyone could." Jesse snorted in annoyance, getting the Admin's attention.

"Of course I could, Jesse. But let's test the loyalty of my new friend now, Petra, would you?" He grinned, giving Petra a sword. She gave Jesse a pitiful look, _I'm so, so sorry._

The Admin let her and Jesse down on the ground and sat back on a non-existent chair. Petra dashed like a mad man towards Jesse, raising her sword as she released a battle cry. Jesse got ready and took a fighting stance, running towards her with his sword ready to block her attack.

To his surprise, she tried to hurt him for real. Her hits were strong and would be fatal if they'd hit, although Jesse blocked them all. Now she got furious and her eyes started to glow which caused Jesse's eyes to widen in surprise. She released another battle cry and struck down hard. Jesse was able to block the hit barely but lost his grip on the sword as she used more force. He watched it slide away on the ground nervously before he had turned back to Petra.

Said person lowered her sword now, walking slowly but deadly towards Jesse who had backed away. When she eventually cornered him, she raised her sword high and her eyes shone in fear. She didn't want to do this, but at the same time, she did want to. This wasn't her though, something else wanted to hurt, no, kill Jesse. But she was too weak to resist yet and had unwillingly brought down the sword.

"Stop." The Admin said suddenly and stopped Petra's motion of bringing the sword down. She sighed in relief as she was able to lower the sword in defeat, dropping it down onto the ground before she hugged Jesse. He hugged her back while the Admin spoke up again. "Good try, but killing Jesse is _my_ task."

The Admin got out of his imaginary seat and started walking towards them both when Petra and Jesse stopped hugging. Petra looked at him quite unsurely and fearfully. When the Admin was close enough, Petra picked up the sword in light speed and went for a slice. She surprisingly took the Admin's guard down and sliced deep through his abdomen.

The Admin staggered back and held his fresh wound while he looked at the sword dripping his own blood. He slowly looked up at her face and got mad, healing himself quickly. "How dare you.. how dare you do this? Are you willing to kill anyone standing in your way?"

"No, but I am willing to kill anyone who tries to kill my friends." Petra replied in a cold tone, so cold that it even made Jesse shiver.

"But we—" the Admin started, but he ended up interrupting himself. "I really had high hopes for our friendship, but I guess I'll just be my own friend from now on. I don't need anyone else, just me, because it seems like having friends is the worst!" He shouted angrily, tearing the self-made arena in two halves, throwing the halves against the walls close by. Everyone, that means Jack, Nurm, Radar, Stella, Jesse, and Petra, who had been floating by his powers now fell to the ground with a painful thud.

Radar groaned among everyone else and broke the silence as no one continued to say anything. "Did anyone else think that just made him sound really lonely?"

The Warden sighed in his corner, curled up like a depressed, bald teenager.

"Well, I guess I'm right! Oh, I'm going to have loads of fun soon!" the Admin continued, now flying up even higher as he started to transform into a second Jesse. "Because everyone loves Jesse, right?" the 'Jesse' said, voice and appearance perfectly matching with the real one.

Jesse couldn't believe his eyes as he got up on his feet. Someone, and sadly someone powerful, just copied his identity almost perfectly. Except the voice sounded a bit off like it was meant to hint that this is not the real Jesse, but it was real enough. "This-this is just... no!"

The Admin ignored Jesse like an annoying fly and turned his attention to Stella. "You coming?" He questioned her. She looked at Jesse unsurely and guiltily but then turned back to the Admin, nodding confidently with a poker face. _Don't take this personal, please. And take care of Lluna for me if you will. _Jesse heard her saying in her thoughts.

After that, she floated towards the Admin.

"Guess Beacontown and your friends will be mine, haha! Well, toddles!" With that, he and Stella disappeared, leaving Jesse and his friends completely alone. At this point, everyone already forgot about the Warden, but he didn't make any effort to get noticed anyway.

"Well, I guess that's how it feels having their own identity be stolen." Jesse murmured before he turned to his friends. "What now? Is everyone ready to continue?"

"Sure," Jack coughed slightly awkward before he straightened himself. "Let's go and explore this creepy, with lava filled hallway.

* * *

Two heavy eyelids slowly opened, revealing purple eyes after they had been sleeping for several hours, but now they had been woken up by footsteps and several voices. Several voices she didn't recognize but she recognized the presence of a certain spirit.

She stood up from her sitting position she had been sleeping in. While she searched for the source of the noise, she heard the voices becoming louder, coming closer. A wide smirk spread across her face which had been hidden by a white mask, preventing her from speaking.

_'Hello, Ander, nice to see you again.'_ Her spirit spoke.

* * *

Jesse had been surprised as he heard a strange, unknown voice echoing in his head. _'Hello, Ander, nice to see you again.'_ Who was Ander supposed to be? And was he the only one who heard that voice? Jesse threw a look to his friends and saw them continuing their way down the strange lava pit as if nothing happened. "Did anyone hear this?"

"Hear what?" Jack asked as curiosity perked up inside of him. He threw Jesse a look.

"Hm, nothing. I must be going insane then."

_'You wish you were.' _The male voice spoke in his head, and this time it was his weird voice again.

_Are you Ander? _Jesse asked through his thoughts. Again, he didn't receive an answer which irritated him slightly. _Asshole, give me an answer for once when you're already living inside my head._

Continuing to jump down the weird obstacles, Jesse finally landed on an obsidian platform, followed by his friends. This place looked weird, almost as if it was trying to keep something dangerous away from the rest of the facility. There were lava canals everywhere, filling the lava bed with new lava every day, and then this platform which didn't stretch across the entire floor of the giant room. This was definitely a room to keep something away.

Jesse then proceeded to walk towards the tiny space in the middle of the platform which, weirdly enough, had a lot of TNT blocks on top of it. Was this place rigged?

As they were getting closer, Jesse started to see a human form inside of the space, standing atop of a lot of pressure plates. It was a woman wearing a straitjacket, a mask strapped over her mouth and she had purple hair, her purple eyes matching to it. She glared insanely creepy at him, and Jesse knew she couldn't speak with the mask blocking her mouth from movement, but yet he wasn't sure if he should even get closer to her.

_'Ander, answer me. Haven't you missed me? That is, us of course.'_

"Is that weird voice coming from you?" Jesse asked the woman.

_Yes, and now take this mask off so I can finally speak. _The woman told him through telepathy, and Jesse hesitated. She didn't exactly look friendly, I mean there had to be a reason why she was in a straitjacket, right?

_Take this DAMN MASK OFF FINALLY. _She repeated, this time a lot more aggressively. She also struggled physically, trashing and taking a threatening step towards Jesse when he flinched away.

"Wow okay, calm down." Jesse said as he raised his hands in defeat. He proceeded to take the mask off with slight nervosity. "Just don't shout at me like that again, please." He took a few steps back from her as his friends shot him weird looks.

"Ah finally," the woman exclaimed. "I can breathe normally again." She started to move her jaw, bones clashing together which Jesse had to cringe at.

"Who are you and your weird voice if you don't mind me asking?"

"Hey," she snapped in an annoyed tone, not happy about the fact that Jesse was so curious. "Who told you to ask those questions?"

"Hey," Jesse imitated her irritatedly. "Who told me to free you? I can simply put the mask back and leave with my friends, you know."

"Ugh, fine. A bit extraordinary from someone with such power to be so.. intimidating towards someone else who has the same amount of power, but fine. This only makes it more interesting, how lovely!" she laughed like a maniac. Jesse didn't really like her, especially not the weird voice that is coming from her as well. But who was it? And would she know the voice inside of his head too?

"I see you got a lot of questions." She continued and ignored his friends, although they didn't do much other than stare at her weirdly. "The voice coming from me is my spirit, her name's Catherine. And she knows your spirit, Ander. Seems like Ander deleted some of your memories since you can't remember him."

"And why should he have done that?"

"Probably to protect you. And Ander's a bit.. you know, special. He doesn't like to show up a lot or talk a lot, he only likes to protect you in life-threatening moments when you really need it."

"Well, as much as I remember, I almost got killed today." Jesse scratched his neck irritatedly. "And I don't remember receiving any help in that case."

"He did, Jesse. He knew you wouldn't kill the boy, but the boy would kill you, so he snapped his neck for you."

"How do you even kn—"

"Thank Catherine for it. Now, why did you come here?" She asked and looked to each one of them. His friends had been suspiciously silent and she didn't like that at all. She felt observed.

"We don't know how to get out of this place, so we thought we'd go here. But I feel like.. we kind of just ended up deeper in this shit." Jesse scratched the back of his head as a slight pink covered his cheeks in embarrassment.

"Well," Jack spoke up and looked to Jesse. "We all woke up here so we don't know how we got here in the first place."

"So you expect me to know the way out and take you with me, am I right?" She leaned back in amusement. This is going to be interesting.

"Yes?"

She then proceeded to get closer to Jesse, eyes gleaming dangerously threatening. "And why should I help you?"

"We're here to stop the Admin from—"

She perked up at the mention of the Admin. Did she know him? "Romeo? Romeo was here?"

"Yeah I mean the Admin—but who is Romeo?"

"Romeo is his name, have you really thought his name is Admin?"

"No, of course not! I just didn't expect that name."

"And you think 'Jesse' is any better?" She raised a brow.

"Uh well, to be honest, it is… 'Jesse' is better, much better." He murmured as he looked to the ground at the side. Then he turned back to her as the silence stretched on with them both staring at each other.

"Wait," Petra softy shoved past Jack and Jesse where she halted. "How do you even know his name?"

"People born with.. a _special ability _can find out every information about a person if they're interested in with many ways, such as scanning memories for example. I was just curious who broke into this hell of a pit in the first place."

"So you know all of our names?"

"No. I was only interested in Jesse since he was the only one having that.. _ability._" The woman deadpanned, earning hilarious facial expressions from Jesse's friends and a few offended 'wow's.

"Well, at least she was honest." Murmured Radar quietly.

"Anyways, you want to break out of here? Then I suggest you to leave one of your friends behind or my trap will go off and we all can forget about the 'break out' part." She continued as she backed up to her spot again. Jesse's eyes widened and he gasped while the color left his face. Petra and Radar protested irritatedly, and Jack just stood there with his hand stroking his beard while Nurm and Lluna exchanged sad looks.

"Wait, what?" Jack asked again, thinking he overheard her as she talked about leaving one of his friends behind. It did make sense, but they couldn't just leave one of them here while the rest escapes.

"Oh come on, as if it's that hard. Keep your human friends and leave the damned llama behind." The woman said as she grew annoyed, looking at the llama as if it was some object to simply throw away. "It doesn't belong to either of you anyway."

_Well.. she is right, kind of. _Jesse thought at first before he quickly got rid of that thought. No, Stella asked nicely to take care of her, and he'd feel guilty if he left behind her beloved pet. He couldn't just leave her behind. The poor animal didn't deserve that, neither did Stella, no matter how much of a bitch she could be.

_'We could stay behind.' _His spirit, Ander, suggested calmly. Jesse looked at the entire trap, the way it was set up and for possible ways of not triggering it without having to leave anyone behind.

_No one is in charge here anymore and our inventories are empty, no object to place on any of these pressure plates. We will have to leave someone behind._

_'In any other situation, this would sound very narcissistic of you. Then try the rotten zombie arm you have left from your last meal.'_

_Oh my god, you're a genius! _Jesse exclaimed mentally before he took out the rotten arm out of his inventory and placed it on a pressure plate, watching it satisfyingly as the pressure plate sunk down from its weight.

"I guess I will never find out why it's so difficult to leave behind a llama that belongs to none of you, but that works as well." The woman commented uninterestedly before she left her rigged cell.

"That's what's called friendship, my lady." Jack said and looked down on her slightly. She shot him a hostile look as she took off her straitjacket.

"Ah, finally free from that shit as well."

"She really likes to ignore people, doesn't she?" Radar asked Jack quietly, earning a disappointing nod from him. Neither of them liked her for now.

"You know," Jesse deadpanned. "You just took it off on your own so you could have done that all the time."

"I know." She said before starting to walk ahead of them, leading them all around the tiny building. She couldn't help but feel relieved to be finally able to leave this place. Romeo had placed her in here a long time ago, and she started to miss the sunlight for a bit. Started missing the friendship they had once. "It was not enough entertainment though."

"Oh, and by the way," She halted for a second which earned her surprised but annoyed gasps as some were almost bumping into each other. "I forgot to introduce myself, Xara." She looked behind herself and waved quickly.

"Jesse," Jesse said. "But you know my name already so this is Nurm, Jack, Petra, Radar, and Lluna." He introduced them all, pointing at each one as he counted their names.

"Glad to meet you." She lied with a fake smile, but she didn't want to be rude. But in the end, she was still glad to have met them or she would still be trapped in her rigged cell. "Well then, let's leave this place for good."

* * *

As they arrived outside of the facility a few minutes later, they met a bunch of prisoners surrounding the Warden with their weapons pointed at him. The Warden himself clutched to a TNT block and a flint and steel. Jesse and his friends walked closer and the Warden noticed them.

"Jesse! Why did you free Xara? She could kill you easily if she wanted to, she has those weird abilities with which she can fuck up other people's minds too."

"I have a couple of reasons why I decided to free her. One of them is that she's our way out of here. Plus, she had to go through a lot you probably don't even know of so it's kind to show humanity and give her the freedom she, as a human, deserves."

"You are just as insane as she is! Well never mind, I'm going to blow us all up so this doesn't matter anymore anyway, and then none of us are free! And I won't regret it!" The Warden threateningly lifted the flint and steel after he placed the TNT block on the ground, making some of the people back up and run away.

But before he could light up the TNT block, Jesse gave a reply he'd never expect him to give, stopping the Warden dead in his tracks. Jesse locked his now glowing eyes with the Warden's eyes, trapping him. Making him unable to move.

"Fine."

While holding the Warden in place, a maniac's smirk lit up on Jesse's face as he slowly raised his right hand. The Warden suddenly started to cramp together, as if someone was holding him in their palm and decided to slowly crush him. But before he could continue, a hand violently grabbed Jesse's hand.

_You, a person who loves to be humane to people, should know what's inhumane to do as well, Jesse._ Xara's pierced Jesse's head as he fell on the ground. He whimpered in pain and shot a look to Xara who wasn't even looking at him but at the Warden who was now sitting on the ground, shaking.

And Jesse absolutely regretted looking into his eyes. He saw so much fear, so much disappointment, and hatred in the Warden's eyes that it made him feel disappointed in himself as well.

"You," the Warden shakily raised a finger towards Jesse. "You're even worse than her, you're a monster!" As he finished his sentence, he hastily got to his shaking feet and dashed off into the maze. No one made an attempt to stop or disagree with him.

"In the end, we're even monsters because he'll die just as painfully out there as you crushing him. Crushing him would have just killed him faster."

"Why will he die out there?" Petra asked in a serious tone.

"Because he doesn't know the way to get out of this maze. He had a map of the entire maze in his office but never made an effort to memorize it, in case this happens. Well, stupidity and laziness both lead to nowhere." Xara turned around as she finished and looked at Jesse who looked up to her. She noticed that his eyes were slightly red and felt slightly guilty for not disagreeing with the Warden to his comfort, but he would feel the lie behind it anyway.

_What have I become? _He asked her through telepathy. He was afraid to let anyone else know of this question.

_Nothing has changed, Jesse. _She replied. _You've become the same person you were before your memory was eradicated. Ander eradicated it because you wanted to be a different person, a humane one. _

"I'm sorry," Jack suddenly peeked into their field of view and waved. "But what's the staring contest for?"

"It's not a staring contest," Xara snapped diplomatically. "We were just communicating a touchy subject, that's all."

"You've hardly known each other for about a few minutes and you already share your issues telepathically?" Petra peeped back in.

"It's a long story we don't have time for, but the short version is that he knows I got more experience about the _abilities_ so he's asking me tough questions."

"I'm sorry guys," Jesse apologized. "I know we don't have time but.. I don't know, this whole situation is fucking with me. I'll be giving my best to focus on what matters for now but I apologize in advance if I get too distracted again."

This earned Jesse pitiful and warm looks, and even Xara had that look. Petra got closer to him and laid a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, we all have our ups and downs, that's what it is to be _human_. But I'm sure we all want you to know that we're always there for you, no matter what."

The word 'human' made Jesse feel sick, but he quickly got rid of those thoughts and smiled shyly. "Thanks, guys, I appreciate it. Same counts for every one of you too, by the way."

Even though the moment was short-lived, they all felt safe and sound during that touchy moment. As if nothing of all that never happened, as if they're still in the treehouse they used to be and got past an argument, that's what it felt like. That's what it felt like to care for each other, no matter the situation.

**TBC**


End file.
